The Phillies were among the teams deep in the Manny Machado trade talks until he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers last week. Cabrera is a decent, and certainly far less costly, alternative. Machado cost the Dodgers five prospects for a likely two-month rental.

How does Asdrúbal Cabrera help the Phillies?

Cabrera, 32, is enjoying a terrific season. He’s produced a .277/.329/.488 batting line with 18 homers and 58 RBI.

He can play second base, third base or shortstop, depending on how Phillies manager Gabe Kapler plans to set up his infield. Cabrera has spent the majority of his career at shortstop, which is a position the Phillies haven’t been able to fill this season. Prospect J.P. Crawford simply isn’t ready to handle those responsibilities, and rookie Scott Kingery seems to be better off in a utility role for now.

Offensivel, Cabrera provides an upgrade that will help solidify Philadelphia’s lineup.

The Philadelphia Phillies filled a big need at shortstop by acquiring Asdrubal Cabrera from the New York Mets. (AP)

When was the last Mets/Phillies trade?

You have to go all the way back to 2001 to find the last trade completed by the Mets and Phillies. There were actually two that season.

On July 23, they swapped veteran catchers with Todd Pratt going to Philadelphia for Gary Bennett.

On July 27, New York traded pitchers Turk Wendell and Dennis Cook to Philadelphia for Bruce Chen and Adam Walker.

Overall, there have only been six trades between the division rivals over the last 30 seasons. The biggest came on June 18, 1989, when New York traded Lenny Dykstra, Roger McDowell and Tom Edens to Philadelphia for Juan Samuel.